TGM - THE GREEN MAN
INFINITY 2.0
12" MAXI
CORE 005
09/2001
ARTIST PAGE
In March 1997 the Cologne based Crew Basswerk/Junglecrowers published their first 4-track EP "Basswerk 01"and founded a record label under the same name. This was 4 years ago, or better a quarter of a century ago, when it comes to the drum & bass-scene. Among the 4 tracks of this long time sold out EP was The Green Mans legendary opus "Infinity". And this is where history continues. "Infinity" was something never heard before - or after. Mighty, emotional strings meeting melodious percussive beats and harmonies. Unusual in the genre, as much then as it is today. It was a track that polarised, loved by those for whom melody in D&B are not a taboo. A track that broke the ice on an innumerable amount of parties. Behind "The Green Man" stands producer and Basswerk`s label maker Heiner Kruse. From the "Infinity"days on, his tracks toured through Germany and abroad. Many DJs cut themselves dubplates from his work that he sent around the world on samplers from his studio in 5106
3 Köln-Mülheim, signed TGM (The Green Man). Now that is history. For a special occasion, TGM now picks up the Infinity-theme again. He finished his long awaited first solo album that is going to be published under the Combination Records label. (Heiner so can concentrate on his productions and doesn`t need to be bothered - at least not continuously - with label work.)
It was the contact with Philipp Maiburg, A&R at Combination, as a long time DJ colleague, that was the missing piece. Philipp knows and plays TGM and Basswerk tracks for years. History continues as Philipp asked TGM to produce a track for the Combination compilation "Combination Traffic". Broken away from D&B "Philtry" emerged. A closer working together was the next step: a release of a TGM album on a Combination label and an extra single that you now hold in hand. It includes three especially for Combination produced tracks that exceed the usual D&B boundaries but still are joined in some way with its style elements.
Infinity 2.0 also marks a new beginning and this pre-EP an experiment. The Infinity rmx is some sort of update of the classic. The maxi more is a dubby vocal version with Heiners favourite voice Sheila Gatwright. (On the album will be the full length vocal version that already goes around as dubplate (f.e. with Lightwood from Santorin). Most certainly the most poppy work amidst the not-easy-to-define TGM-repertoire that is hardcore, complex, melancholic, jazzy and brutal, but always atmospheric. TGM like no one else understands the art of keeping to the codes of the genre and at the same time attach them to more emotional arrangements. With Spadina, a co-production with Techno celebrity Stephane "Teknostep" Vera from Toronto (the idea emerged during TGM`s Canada tour in June), TGM clearly explores unknown territory. One can hear the straight bass-drum and one can hear it clearly, with the extra "whooms" on the firsts. Still Spadinas D&B is more alike than is a lot from the 2-step-area, with a spoonful of duband trance. Surely a lot of question marks will arise above the heads of some D&B purists, but this is the kind of freedom TGM not only allows himself on this track. We could call Svek or Mood2Swing references, but we don`t.
We rather listen how TGM with 51063 on the b-side with 200BPM changes a maxi into an EP when it comes to contents, carrying his inclination to the use of microphone recordings to the extreme. Not only with the beatbox drums. Grooves that fly away (they really take off!!!) when you try to catch them. An apparent light, jazzy track, packed with energy.
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